Tears in Heaven
by RainbowsNSmiles5
Summary: When Sam moves from America to Japan, she finds herself being sucked into the lives of two wealthy, mischievous twins after being saved from a violent mugger. Will things get better or worse? KaoruxOC & Hikaru/Haruhi/Tamaki on the side in later chapters!
1. In Japan

**** I have just recently got into Ouran High School Host Club and the twins were, by far****, my favorite characters. I have no idea how far I'm gonna go with this story, but the more encouragement from you guys, the farther I'll go.  
>This chapter is a bit short for my taste, but it's only an introduction to get to know the OC and get everything going. I still hope you like it! **<strong>

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

Sam stood awkwardly as the workers carried her belongings into her new, two bedroom, one bath, apartment. She wanted to help carry boxes into the place, but the workers smiled and brushed her off, saying, "Don't worry about a thing, Miss Samantha. We are almost done."

She sighed and once they were finished, they left her to put away her things and customize the place with what she had brought from home. The first things she did was take her acoustic guitar from its protective case and neatly set it in on a guitar stand in the corner of the living room, smiling fondly at its light wood face and dark wood body and neck.

She then placed picture frames of her family on a shelf that was provided with the apartment along with the other furniture. There was a picture of her mother and father holding Sam as a baby, one with her grandmother watering her rose garden, one with her and her huddled next to her two best friends, and one of Sam wrapping her arms around her little brother's neck with glee filled grins on their faces. She stopped to smile at it warmly, touching the boy's brown hair as if she could really feel it on her fingers. It made her so happy to look upon her sweet brother's face, but also made her feel the usual sorrow and grief that came with looking at his picture. She couldn't stand to look at it anymore, so she put it with the other pictures of her family and continued taking things out of the boxes.

Taking all of her belongings from the boxes and putting them away was tiring, but she felt extremely accomplished when she was all finished.

Actually, she already felt accomplished.

Sam had managed get a once in a lifetime scholarship to the prestigious Ouran Academy. In only one week, she will begin her first semester of high school. It seemed strange to her that the school year starts in the beginning of April in Japan, rather than the end of August, but she figured that it was going to be one of the many cultural differences she was going to have to get used to.

She worked and studied very hard to get where she was. She could still hear her best friend's concerned preaching.

"Y'know, you're looking a little pale. Maybe you should go outside instead of studying all day!" Paige, her friend, and cousin, would always say.

"Sam," Austin, her other best friend would say, "quit being a worm and come to the movies with us!"

Now that she knew for a fact that she wouldn't be able to see her friends very often, she wished that she did at least take a study break to spend more time with them. It was unnerving to think that she wouldn't be able to see her friends and family until the summer holidays.

But, of course, moving from her family in America to her own apartment in Japan paid by the school to allow her to attend was going to need some getting used to. The school automatically paid for her rent and bills, but they promised that every month they would send her an allowance check to pay for her food, toiletries, etc.

She had already received her first month's check when she arrived and planned to cash it in and go grocery shopping for her empty refrigerator before it would get to be too dark.

With a map of the city in front of her, she wondered around the streets, looking for the grocery store marked on her map when she noticed two small children tugging cutely on their mother's skirt for her attention.

Sam smiled as she gazed affectionately at the children and didn't pay attention to where she was going until she ran right into someone in front of her, causing them to fall down.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" the boy snapped, helping the girl he was with up.

"Calm down. It was just an accident," the girl with him said.

Sam gasped. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

The girl with short brunette hair and the boy with light auburn hair she was with only blinked at her in response.

"Did she just speak English?" the boy quietly asked the brunette, making sure he wasn't just hearing things.

Sam's eyes widened when she realized that she accidentally spoke in English rather than Japanese. Luckily, she came to Japan knowing how to speak it. She spent three years studying it once she decided she wanted to attend Ouran Academy for high school and caught on to it quickly. She still wasn't completely fluent, but she knew enough to not need a translator and was positive that living in Japan will only help her with becoming fluent in the language quickly.

"I'm sorry! I'm from America, so I'm still not completely used to speaking Japanese all the time," she replied in Japanese. She turned to the brunette. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she said nonchalantly.

"Actually, um, do you mind telling me where I can find the nearest grocery store?" Sam asked.

"It's farther down this way," she said, pointing to the direction Sam was already going. "You'll eventually see it on the right if you keep going."

"Thank you so much!" she thanked her and quickly ran off to where she was directed.

She followed the brunette's directions and found the store like she was promised. She spent only a portion of the money she had to buy her needed groceries and toiletries since she knew better not to spend everything all at once in case there would ever be an emergency.

She walked out of the store with two huge bags and noticed the sun setting and that hardly any people were out wandering from shop to shop now.

"_I'd better hurry back before it gets dark,"_ she thought to herself.

She began to walk hurriedly toward the direction she came from when she began to hear footsteps creeping up from behind her. She turned around from paranoia, but saw nobody. Instead of making her relax, it made her even more anxious as she continued on. She still heard the footsteps and they got closer and closer until she felt a hand aggressively grab her by the mouth and pull her into a small, narrow alley in between two clothing stores she had just passed, pinning her against a wall, making her drop her bags.

She tried to scream, but she could barely be heard, for the man's mouth muffled every sound she made from her mouth. She felt his hands go straight to her pockets, where she kept her money, and realized what was happening. She was being mugged.

She gazed at the mugger in horror to attempt to get a good look at his face, but the alley's walls clouded the setting sun's remaining light too much to distinguish anything besides shaggy hair and raggedy, torn clothes.

"Shhh. I don't want to have to hurt a pretty girl like you," he murmured in her ear. He then slid his free hand to her thigh, hinting other intentions.

The touch alarmed her. She started to squirm to loosen his hand's hold on her mouth and let out another scream. This time it wasn't muffled, but loud and piercing.

He growled, obviously not pleased with what she had done, and threw her against the hard ground.

On the ground, she could hear her heart beat obnoxiously in her ears and couldn't control the amount of oxygen her lungs cried out for.

"Hey!" she heard a different voice yell.

She then heard the quick pitter-patter of running feet before everything went black.

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><p><strong>** I hope you like it so far and thanks for reading! :D **<strong>


	2. Twins

**** Oooohh, thanks for the positive reviews I've got so far! I always smile really big when reading reviews. :) Anyways, here's the next chapter! ****

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

Sam moaned as she woke up in the comfort of a soft bed, but also with a sense of disillusion. Her dark, blue eyes lifted to see a creamy colored wall with a dark wood trim and an expensive looking painting of delicate nightshade flowers on said wall. She jolted, sitting up straight in the bed.

This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her bedroom. This wasn't her apartment. Where was she? What should she do?

Sam then began to breathe heavily due to panic.

Deciding that panicking wouldn't get her anywhere, she took a steady, deep breath to calm her nerves. _I'm fine._ _I can't be in any real danger anymore. If I was, I would've already have been hurt by now and not in a bed!_

Her ears perked up when she heard the bedroom door slowly peek open.

Sam couldn't believe her eyes. It was the boy that was with the brunette girl she ran into in town. But something wasn't right; she was seeing two of him. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but she still had double vision, much to her bewilderment.

"Hey, she's awake," the one that opened the door said.

She groaned and grabbed her head. "Now my head's playing tricks on me. I can see two of you…"

They looked at each other and couldn't help but burst into laughter, leaving her puzzled and annoyed.

"What are you laughing about?" she asked.

"You're not seeing double. We're twins!" the one on the right, the same that opened the door, said.

She gulped and felt her face heat up from embarrassment. "T-Twins?"

"Identical," they both said in unison as they came closer and sit at the foot of the bed.

The twin on the left looked over her carefully, trying to search for any visible injuries and bruises on her skin even though he knew he would only wince if he did. He inwardly relaxed in relief when he didn't find anything.

The twin on the right narrowed his eyes and tilted his head when he was close enough to get a better look at Sam's face. "Hey, I know you. You're that girl that ran into Haruhi earlier."

"You mean that brunette girl?" she inquired.

The twins rose their eyebrows in surprise and leaned in. "How did you know she was a girl?" they asked in suspicion.

She paused to look at them incredulously. "Because she looks like a girl!" She shook her head, finding herself becoming very impatient. "Now, where the heck am I? What happened? Why am I here?"

The one on the right shrugged and pointed to his twin. "He found you. I still haven't heard the whole story yet. I just got home and he was just showing me that you were in here when you woke up."

Her mouth formed an unsatisfied straight line. She looked at the twin on the left. "Well? What happened, then?" she demanded.

The one on the right eyed him too, wanting to hear this story as well.

The twin on the left bit his lip nervously and avoided looking at his brother when he said, "W-Well, I was on my way back from Honey-sempai's place - "

"Hold it," the other interrupted. "Why were you at Honey-sempai's?" he asked skeptically.

The way the twin on the left hesitantly spoke made it obvious that he was making up a story to hide something. "He wanted me to try this new flavor of cake he had."

"I can tell when you're lying. You were spying on me and Haruhi, weren't you?"

His body stiffened when his brother found him out so quickly. "Not the entire time! I just had to make sure you didn't blow it!"

Sam rolled her eyes and waved her hands around as she shouted, "Hey!" to stop them before they get off topic. "Don't change the subject. You two can argue later. Now, tell the _real _story."

He sighed. "Okay… I was _checking up_ on him and Haruhi until I could tell he was about to take her home. So, while my driver was taking me home, I thought I saw a guy attack someone from out the car window. I wasn't sure because it was getting dark and all, so the driver and I pulled over and waited until we heard you scream. When we got there, the guy saw us, so he grabbed some bags on the ground and ran off. You were already passed out and I... I didn't know what to do, so I brought you back here…"

Sam's annoyance vanished after hearing him tell the story. She and the other twin could tell by the tone in his voice that he really was frightened by what had happened. The twin on the right looked through his gold eyes at his brother hard, and his jaw and hands were clenched. Sam recognized his obvious worry and frustration in sympathy and considered saying something to comfort him and assure him that his brother was fine, but she decided against it, thinking he might find it detached, coming from a total stranger.

"How long have I been out?" she asked softly.

"I don't know, but it couldn't be anymore than fifteen minutes since I found you. The driver has some past medical experience and thinks that you fainted from shock."

"And the guy got away…" she said gravely, her head down.

He nodded. "I called the police too. They're coming tomorrow to ask you questions about the guy."

Sam's head then shot up. "Tomorrow? I can't be here tomorrow. I don't live here," she said firmly.

The one on the left shrugged. "You can just stay the night. It's no big deal."

"B-But I don't even know you two!" she argued.

"Well, I'm Hikaru," the one on the right said.

"I'm Kaoru," the one on the left said.

"Now you know us," they both said with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "You both know that's not what I meant!"

"What? You wanna know our last name too?" Hikaru joked.

"I'm being serious," she said with a sigh. "I don't want to intrude into two stranger's home…"

Kaoru furrowed his eyebrows. "Intrude? I brought you here while you were passed out. How is that intruding?"

"Please don't say that. It makes it sound like you kidnapped me," she muttered, rubbing her temples to relieve some stress.

"Really, just stay here for tonight. It'll be much easier that way," Kaoru pressed.

Hikaru looked at Kaoru with mild surprise at his insistence, but he had a good idea on why his brother was being so suddenly persistent and brushed it off to discuss it later.

Sam paused to think it over quickly. _I guess it really wouldn't hurt if I weren't just barging into their home…_

"Okay, I'll stay just for tonight," she gave in.

They both threw their hands up in the air and cheered, "Awesome!"

"Hey, are you hungry?" Hikaru asked. "Dinner should almost be ready. C'mon, we'll show you to the dining room!"

He and Kaoru each snatched one of her hands and dragged her downstairs through a few large, highly decorated rooms that left Sam breathless and through hallways that had several doors that made Sam wonder if they were even being used. They soon led her to a room with scarlet red walls and a stunning chandelier high above a giant, long dining table.

Servants then brought out freshly made food and served the three at the table. Sam stared at the dish in awe, wondering if food that looked like this should be eaten or put in an art museum. Not only did it look delicious, it tasted delicious as well.

Sam's eyes gleamed in bliss after taking the first bite and felt a strange urge to cry because of how good it was. "It tastes like Heaven," she choked out, causing the twins to snicker at her fascination.

"Hey, I don't suppose you can let me shower and stuff?" she asked once they finished their meal.

"Oh, right," Kaoru said. "And I guess you'll need clothes too."

"And directions to a bathroom, please..."

Hikaru tapped a finger to his chin in thought. "Wasn't there a bathroom near that room you were in? Or maybe it was in the other hallway…"

Sam's left eye twitched. _Their house is so big that they can't even remember which hallway a bathroom is in. Rich people…_

"Kaoru, you can show her where a bathroom is while I go get some of Mom's clothes for her," Hikaru decided and began taking the opposite direction of where Kaoru and Sam had to go.

As Kaoru walked her upstairs and through hallways with his hands stuffed in his pockets, Sam felt that the quietness between them was very awkward and stale to the point where it made her nervous.

"This place is so big. I think I would get lost in here if I was alone," she said with a smile, hoping to break the uneasy awkwardness.

He glanced down at her. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to send a search party for another person."

"W-What?"

He kept walking and looked to see that she wasn't walking beside him anymore, but was frozen in place a few steps behind. He raised his eyebrows and laughed. "I'm kidding! It was only a joke!"

"Oh..." Sam rubbed the back of her neck and laughed shakily out of embarrassment. "Oh, yeah! Of course, I knew that!" _I'm such an idiot! _She tried to catch up to walk beside him again. "By the way, I never thanked you for what you did for me today. If you hadn't show up, that guy probably would've done more than just mug me…"

Kaoru winced at the thought of what she was implying.

"So, thank you," Sam said with a sheepish, but grateful, smile.

"Oh, it was no problem! I'm just glad nothing too serious happened before I got there," he said modestly.

The two found the bathroom, which in fact was across the hall from the bedroom she was in. While Sam was in the bathroom, happily taking a shower, Kaoru didn't know what else to do but to sit outside the door and wait for Hikaru to show up with clothes in his arms.

"Is she already in the shower?" Hikaru asked.

"Do you hear running water?" Kaoru answered with his own question.

Hikaru then banged on the bathroom door and cautiously cracked the door open. "Hey! You better have the curtains closed 'cause I'm about to put your clothes on the counter!" he tried to yell over the shower's running water.

"Don't come in here, you idiot!" she yelled back.

"How are you supposed to get your clothes, then?"

"Just set them beside the door!"

Hikaru rolled his eyes, stuck his hand in the cracked door, and dropped the clothes on the ground before closing it.

He turned around to see Kaoru shaking his head at him. "You pervert."

Hikaru flushed red. "I was trying to be considerate!"

"Is that what they call it nowadays?"

"Shut up," he retorted as he sat down next to him. "So, what are we supposed to do until she gets out?"

Kaoru shrugged. "I don't know. I thought you would have some ideas.

"No," Hikaru sighed. "I guess we can just wait on her."

Kaoru nodded.

After sitting dully for a few minutes, hearing only the thoughts in their heads, Hikaru lowered his head, his eyes hiding under his bangs and having a staring contest with the floor. "Kaoru…you should be more careful…"

Kaoru looked at his twin, his other half, and knew what he was referring to instantly. "I'm fine, Hikaru."

"That creep could've attacked you too…"

Kaoru's eyes softened. He placed his hand over Hikaru's and gave a small, gentle smile. "But he didn't… And he won't, I promise."

Hikaru's face lightened and his tense muscles relaxed slightly; however, he didn't say anything. But that was all right with Kaoru; he didn't need a verbal reply to know that Hikaru felt a little better by his reassurance.

It wasn't long until Sam opened the door, letting out steam from the hot water, and revealed herself wearing a silky, light blue nightdress that had silver lace around the bust and small, white flowers that twirled a trail along the knee-level bottom. The dress felt as great as it looked and she predicted would be very comfortable to sleep in.

"I love this night gown!" she giggled as she dried her light brown hair with her towel. "Thanks, Hikaru. It's amazing how close mine and your mom's size is!"

"Actually, it's not _her _nightgown," Hikaru corrected her. "It's from one of her collections."

Sam tilted her head. "I don't follow you."

"Our mom is a fashion designer. What you're wearing is something she's designed," Kaoru explained.

Sam looked at the gown again, but in another light this time. This was something their own mother made. It made the nightgown feel even more soft and comforting to wear.

"Wow…" she mouthed as she admired it some more until she felt a yawn. "Well, I should be going to bed now."

"You've gotta be kidding!" they exclaimed.

"You mean we waited out here just for you to say you're going to bed?" Hikaru said.

"And do even realized how early it is still?" Kaoru asked with just as much annoyance as Hikaru.

"I always go to bed early," Sam said timidly.

"Boring!" the twins sang.

"Fine, then. What do you two want to do?"

Kaoru smirked mischievously to Hikaru. "Let's play the 'Who can get to the dining room first' game!"

Hikaru caught on to what he was doing. "The rules are simple," he declared. "The first one to get to the dining room first wins. Me and Kaoru versus you!"

"Is this a joke?" Sam asked skeptically. "You _live_ here! Of course you're going to win!"

Hikaru took a step forward. "Afraid you're going to lose?" he taunted.

Kaoru followed suit. "Afraid of a little competition?"

Sam's arched eyebrows dug an inch deep and her lips pursed in annoyance. "Fine," she said through her teeth, "I'll play."

They grinned evilly, making Sam suspicious of their motives. "Ready, set, GO!" they chanted together and darted out of the hallway.

Sam pouted and began to walk aimlessly down the hall until she could find a place she remember walking past already.

Hikaru and Kaoru lurked around the corner, snickering at her unguided path.

"I knew she would get lost!" Kaoru said, not able to control his laughter.

Hikaru had to hold his sides because he was laughing so much. "This place is like a maze for commoners!" he agreed.

Sam wondered around, desperately trying to remember the way downstairs, but couldn't for the life of her. She whimpered and pulled on her hair. _I'm lost. Lost, lost, lost! What am I going to do? Now they really will have to send a search party to come looking for me!_

After watching Sam try to find the way downstairs in despair for a little while longer, they decided it was getting old and it was time to win the game. They then dashed past Sam in a flash, certain that she would chase after them in hopes of escaping the maze to the dining room.

She did what they expected her to and had to run at top speed to not lose sight of them. The dining room came into view and the twins halted right when they entered the room and turned around to an out of breath Sam.

They laughed triumphantly. "We win!"

"You should've seen your face when you were lost!" Hikaru said.

"Priceless!" Kaoru added.

"You knew the whole time that I was going to get lost!" Sam exploded, feeling her body shake from anger.

"Sorry, we couldn't help it. We were bored," they said with satisfied grins.

Sam turned around in a snap and stomped off in the opposite direction. "I'm going to bed," she snarled.

The twins kept their grins. "Do you remember how to get back?" they asked, knowing what her answer would be.

She stopped walking and felt her face heat up. She had no doubt whatsoever that it was blood red. _These two have _way_ too much time on their hands…_

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><p><strong>** By the way, I hope no characters in this story seem too OOC. If they do, I apologize.<br>**

**I'll see you next chapter! ^_^ ****_  
><em>


	3. Mugger Caught

Chapter 3

The twins woke themselves up sluggishly the following morning and grumbled at the light that seeped through the curtained windows beside their beds. Hikaru looked over to the clock that sat on the nearby end table while Kaoru rubbed the sleep from his amber eyes.

"Nine o'clock," Hikaru said groggily.

The two jumped out of bed and got dressed into one of the fashionable attires that filled their walk-in closet, combed their bed-head, styling it into its usual spiky manner and parting their hairline opposite of each other's – Hikaru's to the right and Kaoru's to the left.

Hikaru placed his hand over his growling stomach and turned to his brother. "Let's go get that girl and eat breakfast," he suggested.

Kaoru nodded and they went their way to her bedroom and knocked an upbeat pattern on the door before entering. They found her lounging on the bed casually, still wearing the nightgown given to her the night before, engrossed in a thick book she found on one of the shelves in the room. She was so engrossed that she didn't hear the door open and didn't notice the twins when they walked right in front of the bed.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow at the chunk of pages she had already read - it looked like she was around the middle of the book. "You couldn't have read all that since you've been here," he said in disbelief.

Sam looked up sharply in surprise of hearing someone's voice, but her expression soon lifted into a smile. "No, I started reading it about three hours ago after I woke up. It looks like a lot, but the words are a little big and I'm a fast reader anyways," she explained.

Now it was Hikaru's turn to gaze at her skeptically. "Three hours ago? You mean you got up at six? Why would you wanna be up that early?"

She giggled, thinking back on how her father would ask her the same question frequently. "I always get up that early, as soon as it's not dark outside anymore."

Hikaru felt his stomach complain some more and sighed exasperatedly. "Well, we came here so that we can go downstairs and get breakfast," he said, brushing the previous subject off impatiently.

Sam gasped with excitement, hoping that the breakfast will taste just as great as her dinner did. When she did taste her breakfast, she was not disappointed. She hummed in delight while she chewed her food with a grin. "You guys are so lucky you get to eat this stuff everyday!"

The twins an eyebrow at how fascinated she still was with the food and then quickly concluded that it had something to do with her being a commoner.

"Man, what's up with commoners and food?" Hikaru murmured to Kaoru.

"It's like watching Haruhi eat fancy tuna," Kaoru added in amusement.

Sam didn't know if she should've felt offended by those comments, but at the moment she didn't care. She didn't want to make a fuss about it and let the bad emotions ruin such good food. "So, what time are the cops coming to ask me questions?" she asked when it came to her mind.

"Around noon," Kaoru confirmed. "They have to talk to me and the driver as well about what happened."

"I think they'll be wasting their time talking to me. I hardly remember what happened or even what the guy looked like. All I remember is that I walking on my way from buying groceries –" She then cut herself off with a quick gasp. "Oh, no…"

The twins leaned in with interest. "What?"

Sam shook her head frantically in panic and felt as if she were going to cry. She wanted to cry after what she had just remembered. "He stole m-my grocery money… I'm not going to get another payment for another month!" she exclaimed to herself in her native tongue, confusing Kaoru, but made Hikaru sit expectantly with a smirk on his face.

"By the way, she speaks English," he told Kaoru.

"I can tell," Kaoru said as he watched her panic and grab handfuls of the light brown hair on her head.

"What the heck am I going to do now?" Sam continued, not realizing that the twins were talking about her or that she was even involuntarily speaking English.

"She's still speaking English," Kaoru said. "Are you getting any of this?"

Hikaru shook his head. "She going too fast and I can't keep up."

Kaoru nodded understandingly.

Although they, along with the other Japanese students, had to take English since middle school or even before, it was still difficult to understand and carry a vocal conversation in English. It was far much easier to read and write it than to actually speak it.

"You're better in English class. What's she going on about?" Hikaru asked.

"There's no guarantee that the school will give me another payment and I don't even have one single grain of rice at my place!" Sam went on.

Kaoru's eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he heard what he thought he heard. "I think she just said that the school might not pay her and that she doesn't any rice at her place."

Hikaru facepalmed at the seemingly ridiculous translation his brother came up with. "We need to pay more attention in class…"

Kaoru rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Sam, who was still talking to herself in panic. "I think she's broken."

Hikaru saw what he meant and began saying things to her to try get her attention, but it was like she was wearing invisible earplugs and couldn't hear a thing he said to her. When seeing that that didn't work, Kaoru considered something else she might respond.

"Hikaru, say something to her in English," he suggested.

Hikaru shrugged and shouted a single "Hey!" for Sam to break away from her own fearful thoughts and look up to them. Hikaru laughed under his breath. "Wow, I can't believe that actually worked!"

"W-What?" Sam stuttered, now back in Japanese.

"You started speaking English on us," Kaoru told her.

Sam mentally slapped herself on the wrist as a way to scold herself and apologized to the twins for getting carried away with herself.

"That's okay. Kaoru tried translating what you were saying, but he said that you said something about a school not paying you and not having rice at home," Hikaru said with doubt.

"Oh, I did say that…" Sam admitted, embarrassed at how strange it must have been to hear her say something so weird without knowing the background details.

"Told you," Kaoru muttered to Hikaru and went back to Sam. "Why would you say something like that?"

"Well, I just got a scholarship and the school pays for my apartment and sends me a check for groceries and stuff every month. Last night, I think the mugger stole my money and probably the groceries I had with me… Now I don't have any food and I'm not going to get another check until next month…" she said with her head hung and shoulders slumped in shame.

The twins glanced to each other, sharing the same thought. "How much?"

"You mean how money the school gave me?" Sam asked to clarify. The twins nodded. "Like four thousand yen…" she mumbled, thinking in the back of her head of how large of a number that seemed. She was so used to the value of American currency, but in reality, four thousand yen equaled a little more than five hundred dollars.

The twins smirked deviously and said, "We can give you the money."

Sam's eyes widened in hope and gratitude. "R-Really?"

"But there's a catch," Hikaru added.

Her face fell and she groaned. "Oh, God… What do I have to do?"

"You have to let us come over to your place after all of this is over," Kaoru said with a grin.

"Why would you two want to come over to my place?" The idea didn't make much sense to her. Why would two rich boys want to go to an apartment when they already live in a luxurious mansion?

"We're curious to see where other commoners live," Hikaru answered.

Kaoru propped his elbow on the table and cupped his cheek. "Besides, Haruhi never let's us go over to her place because she says we cause too much trouble."

"We don't know how she could've thought of something like that," they said in unison with a shrug of the shoulders.

Sam sweat-dropped at their contradictory remark. Her eyes glanced down at her breakfast and sighed when she saw that her plate was empty. She then heard the sound of the twin's chair legs rub against the floor as they were pushed back. She blinked up at the boys, who were now standing. "Something wrong?"

They smirked. "No, but we have to get you out of that nightgown."

"W-What?" she stuttered with a red face.

They laughed. "We meant that you have to change clothes!"

"You could've just said so…"

The twins then appeared beside her and each took one arm and dragged her through the mansion to another, brightly lit room with hundreds of mannequins staring them down. Sam didn't like the way they seemed to creepily stare at her and felt her body shiver.

"What are we doing in here? I thought I was just going to wear what I had on yesterday," she said.

"No way!" Kaoru protested. "Do you even remember those raggedy jeans you were wearing yesterday? And you had absolutely no accessories too!"

"I had a ribbon in my hair, thank you," Sam muttered.

"Besides," Hikaru said, opening a double-door that revealed a collection of outfits, "we never have anyone different to dress up!"

"I'm not a doll, you know!"

"You're our toy, so that's close enough," they said together.

Sam could feel her whole body boil over with annoyance of the two boys.

They flashed a casual, white, ruffled dress with a denim jacket in front of Sam's face. "Try these on!" they commanded.

"I'm not a doll!" she repeated.

"Try them on!" they insisted.

She gave in and flashed them a scornful look before snatching the clothes from their hands and changing behind a curtain set up in the corner of the room. She soon came out and the twins clapped at their wonderful choice of attire for her. She didn't want to admit it, but she really liked the outfit they picked for her. While she touched the ruffles on her dress in adoration, Hikaru pulled out a pair of white, open-toed flats for her and Kaoru held a dark green belt to accompany the dress.

Sam gazed at herself in the mirror and felt something missing in the outfit. "Do you guys have any hair ribbons?"

They showed her to the different colored ribbons that sat next to piles of unused fabrics. She scanned them and selected and big, dark green ribbon and pulled her hair into a ponytail, leaving her fringe to frame her face, and tied the ribbon around the ponytail. She walked back in front of the mirror and smiled with satisfaction. She didn't know what it was, but she always felt weird and out of place if she didn't wear a ribbon in her hair.

"You know, I just realized that you never told us your name," Hikaru informed her out of the blue.

"Hmm? Oh, my name is Samantha, but you can call me Sam if you'd like."

The air was suddenly filled with an abrupt cheerful tune. Hikaru and Kaoru's faces turned sour when they recognized the tune.

Hikaru reached for the cell phone in his pocket. "Yeah?" he said into the phone. The voice from the other side of the phone call shouted loud enough for Hikaru to have to hold the phone a few inches away from his ear. "Calm down, Boss. We were just hanging out."

Another loud response from the other end, which Sam could have sworn said, "You're not going to corrupt my little girl!"

Hikaru sighed and turned to Kaoru and Sam. "I'm going to take this out in the hall. I'll be right back."

When Hikaru was out of the room, Sam sat down to think to herself. Seeing someone use a cell phone made her think about how much she wanted to talk to her Mom and Dad. The idea of living alone without them was too surreal and not being able to conveniently visit them made it worse. She didn't have a phone or computer yet and didn't know for sure if a pay phone would let her call someone in America. The only communication she had with her family and friends at the moment was writing letters.

"So, I'm guessing you're not from around here," Kaoru said when he saw her sitting quietly, staring at the ground.

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up. "You're right. I just moved here from America. Did my English speaking ways give me away?"

He smirked. "Major. Your accent is a little weird too when you speak Japanese."

She sighed. "I know. I've been teaching myself for almost three years now, but it's really hard to transition from English to Japanese. I always catch myself speaking in English on accident like what you saw earlier."

Kaoru sat down beside her, tired of standing while sitting looked much more comfortable, even if it was on the floor. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. You speak pretty well for learning it in only three years."

She smiled. "Thanks, Kaoru! Speaking of learning languages, don't schools in Japan require you to take English classes?"

"Yeah, starting in middle school and on."

She grinned largely in excitement. "Can you understand what I'm saying, then?" she asked him in English.

"Yes," he replied in English after briefly laughing under his breath.

She giggled. "At least I know I'll have an easy time in the English classes. To be honest, I'm really nervous to start school here, but at the same time, I can't wait for the first day!"

Kaoru couldn't honestly agree with her. He and Hikaru have dreading the end of vacation break to go back to school. School was the one boring thing they couldn't ditch without consequence. They only looked forward to their school club to make the classes less unbearable.

"'Kay, I'm back," Hikaru announced, making his way back in the room.

"What did you tell him?" Kaoru asked him.

"Nothing, really. He just kept babbling about how Haruhi is his precious daughter, so I hung up on him."

"He's just going to call back."

"That's why I turned it off," Hikaru said with a smirk.

"What?" Sam looked back and forth between the two, puzzled about what they were talking about.

"Oh, it's nothing important," Kaoru assured her.

"Anyways, a maid came up to me while I was in the hallway and said that the cops just got here," Hikaru said.

Kaoru sighed and picked himself off the floor. "Let's get this over with."

He extended a hand to help Sam off the floor and the three went to the main living room of the mansion to meet the police. There, they asked Sam, Kaoru, and the driver that was with Kaoru that night questions about what had happened and if they remembered what the mugger looked like. The police officers nodded they heads, hearing what they wanted and asked them to come with them to the station, claiming they might have already caught the mugger.

"But how?" Sam asked in astonishment.

"We got a call from a man last night that claimed to be mugged by a man with the same descriptions," one of the officers said. "We need you three to come and confirm the suspect as well."

"Can Hikaru come too?" Kaoru asked, pointing at his mirror image.

Knowing that he was obviously family to him, the officers approved, but stated that he couldn't be in the room when they confirmed the suspect. All of them then went to the station.

Sam, Kaoru, and the driver were led to a room and then shown the mugger through a one-way window. Seeing the mugger in the light made Sam wince and look away. She didn't want to look at this disgraceful excuse for a human and turned her head.

"That's him," Kaoru confirmed to the police. The driver nodded in agreement.

"Miss," an officer said gently to Sam, "is this the man that attacked you?"

"Y-Yeah…" she answered, her head still turned the other way.

After, they left their contact information in case they would ever need to get a hold of them and were free to leave.

"Masters," the driver said to the twins, "are we to take your guest home now?"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that that I was only staying until we talk to the police," Sam said.

Sam gave the drive the address to her apartment and sat in the back of the black limo in between Hikaru and Kaoru.

During the ride, Hikaru pulled out a check from his coat pocket and handed it to Sam. "Here," he said.

Sam read the check and saw that it was made out to her four thousand yen. "You both weren't kidding? So, that means that the other part…" she trailed off.

"Now we get to go over to your place!" they both sang.

Sam groaned. "Fine, a deal's a deal, but you're not coming over tonight."

"Why not?" they asked.

"Because I'd like to be alone and process everything that's happened to me in the span of only two days, if you don't mind!"

"Miss, we are here," the driver said when the vehicle stopped.

"Well, I guess I'll be going now. My apartment number is twenty-three, you know, for when you come to visit…" Sam said with a face that showed a mix of cheerfulness and disappointment. Even though these twins were a handful, she had to admit that she had fun while staying with them. "Bye Hikaru, Kaoru," she said, pulling the door open and getting out.

"Bye, Sam," Kaoru said, his mouth falling to a straight line.

Hikaru watched his brother as he gazed out the window at Sam while she made her way to her door. He noticed that the corners of Kaoru's lips curved up slightly when Sam he saw Sam finally opened her door and went inside.

Kaoru couldn't help but feel better now that the mugger wasn't on the streets anymore and she was safe at home. He felt relieved.

"Back to Hitachiin Manor?" the driver asked.

"Yes," Hikaru said, still watching Kaoru and observing much more relaxed he looked. He thought back on when Kaoru urged Sam to stay the night she was attacked and how frightened and pleading he sounded. "Kaoru, why did you want her to stay at our place last night?" he asked to confirm his suspicions. "You were very persistent when you asked her to stay at our place."

Kaoru looked at him, taken aback by his question. He sighed and looked down where his hand held each other in his lap. "I just…I was a little freaked out, that's all. It made me uncomfortable to think that she would be out of my sight while that creep was still out there… Almost as if she would get attacked again if didn't…"

Hikaru took in what he was saying understandingly. "I get it. Now that that creep is locked up, you feel better?"

Kaoru smiled. "Much better."

Meanwhile, Sam stared at the check Hikaru gave her. She couldn't believe that so much already happened within only two days. What if ever day was as eventful? It would be overwhelming for her. She never experienced eventful things in America. She experienced working hard in school.

She placed the check down on a table and made way for her acoustic guitar. She held it close as if it were a baby and strummed its strings and sang a song her father used to always play and sing to her before giving her his beloved guitar. The melody calmed her and reminded her of her family just enough to not miss them terribly.

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><p><strong>** Hmm, I don't think I have anything to say... Weird. :P<strong>

** I hope you guys liked it! And thank you so much for reading and reviewing! ****


	4. First Day

**** Two chapters in two days? Woo! :D ****

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

Sam gripped the straps on her small book bag as she gazed up in wonder at the enormous pink building that was called Ouran Academy. She looked around at her surroundings and marveled at the amazing architecture and beauty of the gardens around her. To think that she would be able to visit such a beautiful place like this every day!

She walked through the front double-doors of the school and pulled out a small map of the school she was given in a letter instructing her to visit Chairman Suoh as soon as she arrived on her first day.

The inside was just as elegant as the outside and had very expensive fine arts that decorated the tall walls. After following the map, careful not to become hopelessly lost, she found the school's office and notified the secretary that she was there for her appointment with the chairman.

"Hello, Miss Matthews," Chairman Suoh greeted with a charming smile when she entered his office when she was called for. He gestured to one of the two chairs in front of the desk he sat behind. "Come, please sit."

Sam sat and did her best to appear as proper and she could for the chairman of the school. She wanted to make the best impression she could for the person that was giving her such a grand opportunity. "Hello, Chairman Suoh. It's very nice to meet you," she said politely with a slight bow.

He gave a light chuckle. "No need to be nervous. The pleasure is all mine! It's so nice to have a bright student all the way from America attending my academy! Tell me, what is your first impression?"

"Oh, it's beautiful, sir," Sam said genuinely with an enthusiastic gleam in her eyes. "I can't wait to start class here!"

"That's good to hear. I wanted to introduce myself and personally welcome you to my school before you started your classes. Was it too much trouble finding your way here? I can always arrange for a trusted student to show you to your classes until you become more accustomed."

Sam waved her hands and nervously laughed. "Thank you, but I don't think that will be necessary! I still have a map of the school, so I think I'll be fine."

The chairman smiled, pleased with her independence. "Very well. You will be placed in class 1-A for this year." He pressed a button on the telephone on top of his desk. "Please send Mr. Ootori in," he said to the machine, which answered with an affirmative. Shortly after, a handsome, tall boy with neatly combed hair and specs entered the office. "I hope you don't mind, Miss Matthews, but I have already arranged for a student to escort you to your first class this morning," the chairman said. "This is Kyoya Ootori, a second-year here at Ouran Academy. Kyoya, this is Miss Samantha Matthews."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kyoya said with a smile.

"Let me know if there is anything at all I can do for you, Miss Matthews," Chairman Suoh added before Kyoya led Sam to her first class.

"So, Miss Matthews, Chairman Suoh seemed to take an instantly liking to you. You must be quite special," Kyoya said as they walked through the halls.

"Oh, I'm not sure about that," she said modestly. "And you don't have to call me that, by the way. I'm fine with you calling me Samantha, or just Sam for short. Most people call me Sam."

"Then, Sam, I hope you don't feel too intimidated by the fact that you are one of the only commoners to attend Ouran Academy."

Sam's left eye twitched. She didn't feel the slightest bit intimidated until he made that remark. "N-No, w-where would you get an idea l-like that?" she stuttered.

He saw through her easily and smirked. He then stopped in front of a door. "This is class 1-A. Luckily for you, the one other commoner in this school happens to be in this class with you. I'm sure he will enjoy sharing with another commoner like yourself."

She nodded and watched Kyoya return to his own class after exchanging a brief goodbye. Sam sighed and pulled open the classroom door and walked in. The teacher expected her to show up eventually and introduced her in front of the class as Samantha Matthews.

Sam scanned the class and her jaw dropped when she saw two familiar, identical boys, who also looked at her with shock. _You've gotta be kidding me!_

"There's one last seat open over there," the teacher said, pointing over to a desk in front of a brunette that looked very familiar to her and who happened to sit in between the twins she was surprised to find. She took her seat, feeling the eyes of the whole class staring at her, especially the eyes of the mischievous twins that sat nearby.

She didn't dare say a word to them, avoiding all risks of being distracted from the teacher's lecture. She didn't come to Ouran to talk. She came to learn and put the scholarship she got to good use. But that didn't mean it wasn't tempting to ask them why in the world were they in the same school as her. She knew that they were obviously rich, judging by their mansion, and assumed that they would go to a prestigious school, but she didn't think twice about it being Ouran Academy.

Hikaru and Kaoru didn't pay much attention to the teacher; instead, they stared at the back of Sam's head in shock that it was even in their classroom.

The brunette sitting in between them rolled her eyes. "Would you two quit it," she whispered to them. "Do you really want to make her feel uncomfortable on her first day?"

"Haruhi, don't you recognize her at all?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi thought back and tried to match her to any of her past memories that she could remember. "She does look familiar, but I can't place my finger on where I've seen her before…"

Hikaru sighed in response.

"I can't believe she's here," Kaoru muttered. "Do you think she can hear us?"

Sam glanced over her shoulder to Kaoru, whose body stiffened when she whispered, "Yes, I can."

"Hey, quiet back there in the corner!" the teacher scolded.

Sam sighed exasperatedly and turned back to the teacher. _Those two are going to get me in trouble this year…_

Once the class was released for lunch, Sam debated on talking to the twins about them being in the same school, but quickly considered that it might be awkward and went along to lunch by herself. The twins caught up with Sam, dragging Haruhi along with them, as Sam walked towards the lunchroom.

"You never told us you were going to go to Ouran Academy!" they twins said together.

"You never asked," Sam said back with a shrug.

"You both know her?" Haruhi asked with a hint of surprise.

"You know her too, Haruhi," Hikaru said. "You know, that girl that ran into us when we were in town last week. Remember?"

Sam's eyebrows rose when realizing that the brunette in front of her wearing Ouran Academy's boy uniform was actually Haruhi, the girl she bumped into in town and heard about briefly from the twins. "You're Haruhi?"

Haruhi smiled her naturally friendly smile and said, "Yes, I'm Haruhi Fujioka. I think I remember you now. Your name is Samantha Matthews, right?"

"Yeah," Sam said, almost taking the time to tell her her nickname, but didn't bother because of how many times she would have to say it throughout the day. It wasn't a big deal to her if people called her Sam or Samantha, just as long as they didn't call her something else like Serena or Silvia.

Sam eyed the blue blazer and black slacks Haruhi wore and looked down at the poofy, mustard yellow dress the girls at Ouran Academy had to wear as the school uniform. "I don't get it… Why are you wearing the boy's uniform?"

Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi's eyes widened. The twins then proceeded to cover their hands over her mouth dramatically and lead her to an empty classroom.

Sam pried their palms off her face. "What the heck was that for?" she fumed.

"You can't go around school saying that Haruhi is a girl!" Hikaru explained.

"Why not?" Sam asked, feeling her temper rise.

The three of them told her the story of how Haruhi broke an expensive vase and was now in debt to the Host Club. They explained that she had to keep her gender a secret, otherwise Haruhi won't be able to be in the Host Club anymore.

Sam understood her situation, but the entire time had something else pooping into her mind. _What the heck is a host club? _She had never heard of such a thing, but it didn't bother her enough to ask.

"Samantha, it doesn't really matter. You can tell whoever you want that I'm really a girl," Haruhi said carelessly.

"She's only saying that – " Hikaru began.

"Because she doesn't have passion for anything," Kaoru finished.

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Sam giggled. "Haruhi, it's not a problem. I can keep your secret."

"Alright! We knew we could trust you!" the twins said, crushing her in a hug. "Come on, you're eating lunch with us today!"

Throughout the rest of the day, mention of the Host Club appeared again when the three talked about what costumes they were wearing that day, making Sam even more curious to what it was. She asked what it was and the twins smirked suspiciously.

"Why don't you visit after school and find out?" they said.

Haruhi waved her hands. "Samantha, trust me, you don't want to get involved with it," she reassured her with an awkward laugh.

"Aw, don't listen to Haruhi," Hikaru said.

"She's just upset that she has to work off a debt," Kaoru said.

Haruhi just glared at them.

When the last class was dismissed, Sam found herself already booked with homework, even when it was only the first day. She decided that she would stop by one of the school's libraries to work. She found the nearest library from her class and looked around for an empty table to sit at. She didn't find one, but instead saw two girls, one with shoulder-length red hair and the other with black hair that were tied up in cute pigtails, waving excitedly at her to join them at their table.

Sam didn't know if they had mistaken her someone one else, but accepted the offer anyway and sat next to the redhead.

"You're Samantha, the commoner from America, right?" she asked in her usual serene tone of voice.

"Yeah," Sam answered. "How did you know who I am? Are we in the same class?"

They shook their heads. "No, but word spreads quickly when a commoner joins this school," the girl with black hair said.

"I'm Chiemi Momotani," the pretty red haired girl introduced.

"And I'm Akari Kanagawa!" the black haired girl said with a cheeky grin. "We're both in class 1-B."

"Do you want to study with us for little before we go to the Host Club?" Chiemi asked, her sparkling gray eyes pleading, making it hard to say no to.

"Host Club?" Sam inquired, remembering the club's mentioning from the twins and Haruhi.

"Yeah!" Akari said with her shrill excitement, causing her to be hushed by the librarian. "Do you wanna come? It's so much super fun, Samantha!"

"Well, I guess I can just finish my homework at home if I don't finish, then…"

Chiemi smiled and Akari squealed. Not long after, the girls made their way down halls and up a case of stairs before stopping in front of a pair of pink double-doors. Sam looked up and saw the sign above said "Music Room #3".

"Is this the right room?" she asked, uncertain.

Akari giggled. "Of course!"

Chiemi and Akari opened the doors together, a breeze rolling rose petals delicately through the doorway as it opened further.

"Welcome!"

Chiemi and Akari sighed dreamily as they gazed upon the seven hosts.

One of the boys stepped up with a clipboard in hand and pushed the specs on his face up further on the bridge of his nose. "Welcome, Miss Momotani, Miss Kanagawa. Oh, and if it isn't Miss Matthews."

"Oh, Kyoya-sempai," Sam said. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Hikaru and Kaoru stepped up. "So, she came after all," Kaoru said.

"And she made friends," Hikaru said when seeing her with Chiemi and Akari.

"Hey, Sam!" Kaoru called. "Request us!"

"Yeah, request us! We're already your friends!" Hikaru agreed.

Kyoya smirked. "Now, now, Hikaru and Kaoru. I think our guest should have the freedom to request whoever she wishes without temptation."

Sam leaned in to her two new friends, Chiemi and Akari. "What do they mean by request?" she whispered for only them to hear.

"We request a host to entertain us based on what kind of guy we like," Chiemi whispered.

"Yeah, and we always request Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai!" Akari said with a giggle, discreetly pointing at the tall, dark boy and the small, child-like boy that sat on the other's shoulders.

_Honey-sempai?_ The name sounded very familiar to Sam. She looked at the blond boy who was Honey-sempai. He reminded her so much of her little brother and how optimistic he was. Sam formed an almost bittersweet smile on her face as she thought more and more about her little brother.

"Well, Miss Matthews? What kind of guy do you like?" Kyoya asked, ready to record her answer into his clipboard. "Do you like the princely type, the cool type, the mischievous types, the natural type, the strong and silent type, or the boy lolita?"

Everyone leaned in for her answer, making her nervous with her answer. She could declare by educated guesses that Honey was the boy lolita, Mori was the strong and silent type, and that the twins were the mischievous types since she already knew those two and how they loved to play tricks on people for fun. The other three options she wasn't sure about, so she brushed the unknown off of the possibility list.

"Well, I guess I'll choose-" Sam said before the Host Club's king, Tamaki, cut her off dramatically.

"Ah, of course! I knew such a beautiful girl like yourself would pick me!" he exclaimed obnoxiously. He then knelt down and kissed Sam's hand, causing multiple girls in the room to squeal.

"I wasn't going to pick you," Sam said flatly.

Tamaki gasped and then retreated to the nearest corner to sulk.

Hikaru and Kaoru laughed. "Because it's obvious she's going to pick us!" they said confidently while laughing hilariously at Tamaki.

Sam rolled her eyes at their arrogant attitudes. "I wasn't going to pick you two either," she muttered.

They were taken aback and joined Tamaki to grow mushrooms in his corner and sulk over their rejection.

"Anyways, I wanted to request Honey-sempai," Sam said.

Honey's brown eyes lit up and he, Mori, Chiemi, Akari, and Sam migrated to a table on the other side of the room.

"My name is Mitsukuni Haninozuka, but most of the time people call me Honey!" Honey introduced enthusiastically himself to Sam after taking a bite of his strawberry cake. "And that's Takashi Morinozuka!" he said addressing Mori, who nodded his head in greeting. Honey then held up a pink, stuffed bunny. "And this is my cute bunny, Usa-chan! What's your name?"

"I'm Samantha Matthews," she said with a smile.

Honey held out a plate with a slice of rich cake. "Do you like cake, Sam-chan?"

Sam took the plate gratefully. "Yes, thank you, Honey."

Sam took a bite of the sweet cake and glanced back at Honey, who had already devoured two slices happily. His child-like innocence kept bringing a mental image of her little brother back in her head, causing her to lose her sweet-tooth and put the cake down on the table. Her eyes began to flood with grief and sorrow like every time she would stare at a picture of him and her smile slowly vanished to a straight, dull line.

"What's wrong, Samantha?" Akari asked with concern when she noticed the sad look.

Sam looked up and forced a smile. "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how much Honey reminds me of my little brother, that's all…"

"I do?" Honey asked with a proud grin. "Does like cake as much as I do?"

Sam laughed a little under her breath and her smile was resurrected with a warmness that only came with thinking about her brother. "No, but my little brother…he was always so cheerful and innocent… I miss him a lot."

Honey and Mori looked at Sam in a different, more serious, light when they perceptively listened to her words and watched her facial expressions. They looked at each other in the corner of their eyes and knew they were suspecting the same thing.

"I'm sorry, Samantha," Chiemi said. "It must be hard to live so far from your family now."

Sam lowered her head to where her fringe hid her eyes. "Yeah…" She stood up. "I think I'm going to be on my way home now. I don't want to get home before it gets dark…"

"Are coming back tomorrow, Sam-chan?" Honeys asked with a tearful plead in his big eyes.

"Of course, Honey-sempai! I think I'm just a little tired after my first today. I'll be back after school tomorrow," she promised.

Sam walked towards the door she came into the room from when she heard something that caught her interest.

"Let's play the 'Which one is Hikaru game'!" Hikaru and Kaoru said with identical green caps on their head to hide their hairline, making them physically identical.

Sam stopped next to the door to watch the game from a distance, selecting in her head which one was indeed Hikaru.

"I think…you're Hikaru!" one of the girls selected, pointing at the twin on the left much like a guess.

The twins threw their hands in the air. "We have a winner!" they announced.

Sam frowned and furrowed her eyebrows. _But she picked Kaoru…_

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><p><em><em>**** I have sooo many ideas for this story. I'm sorry there isn't much KaoruxOC fluff yet, but it's defintely coming soon. I'm feeling that there will quite possibly be some fluff next chapter! :) Thanks for reading and reviewing! ****_  
><em>


	5. Does She Know?

**** Sorry for the wait! ****

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><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

The Host Club room was empty as Hikaru and Kaoru each sat on a chair idly and gazed out the large window next to them, letting out numerous sighs.

"How boring…" Hikaru said.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Kaoru said. He looked away from the window to scan the room for something slightly entertaining and realized something was missing. "Hey, Hikaru, wasn't Sam here earlier?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah," he said, not interested in the window and the gardens it showed on the other side of it anymore. "Where'd she go?"

"She went to the library to do homework twenty minutes ago," Kyoya informed them, not bothering to look up from his laptop as he calculated the club's income.

"Yeah! She was telling us earlier that it was hard for her to focus in here," Honey said from his table, which was over-flowing with cakes. "Right, Takashi?"

Mori nodded. "Yeah."

Kaoru groaned. "That's no fun."

"Can't you two give her a rest?" Haruhi asked. "All you two have done the past two weeks is pull tricks on her."

Hikaru shrugged. "It's not our fault she's fun to mess with. Kaoru, did we ever go to her place yet?"

"No, not yet," Kaoru answered. "We don't have school tomorrow. Wanna go then?"

"The poor girl… You two are only going to give her headaches while you're there," Haruhi said knowingly, shaking her head.

"What? Do you want us to go to your place instead, then?" they asked in unison.

Tamaki then stepped in. "Absolutely not! I will not allow you two demons entering my beloved Haruhi's home!" he cried, now having arms wrapped around Haruhi and his cheek pressed against her's. "Haruhi, please tell me you won't let those shady twins in your home without me!" he pleaded. "They might attack you or insert a mind control chip in brain so that you'll have to do every evil thing they tell you to!"

Hikaru and Kaoru gave a dull stare. "Boss, where did you get an idea like that?"

Haruhi rolled her big eyes and pried Tamaki off of her. "Sempai, relax. They're not coming to my house."

"Kyoya-sempai, did Sam say which library she went to?" Hikaru asked, standing up.

"We're gonna tell her? Wouldn't it be more fun to show up unannounced?" Kaoru inquired.

"Yeah, but if we do, she won't prepare any snacks for us."

Kaoru shrugged and followed his brother as they walked sluggishly through the school's corridors in search of a library they could try to find her in. They didn't find her until they reached the third library, where it was so quiet that breathing made you second-guess if you were making too much noise. Sitting at an empty, round table was Sam, rolling her eyes speedily as she read her textbook, not concerned or interested in anything or anyone at all that had nothing to do with her studies.

Hikaru and Kaoru thought that she looked too serious and decided to hide behind a bookcase to form a trick to play on her. They both switched each other's hair parts with their fingers and made sure that the parts, which were used to staying on the opposite side, stayed in place.

They then revealed them from behind the bookcase and walked side by side, everything about them identical and moving symmetrically together without much thought or effort; they did it so often that it was second nature to them. They halted when they each beside one of her shoulders and hovered over her.

"What are you two doing here?" Sam asked, not bothering to look at them and continued with her work.

Hikaru raised a curious eyebrow and leaned in. "Aww, what's with the cold attitude? We haven't even done anything yet."

"You mad at us or something?" Kaoru asked.

Sam looked up at him. "No, Kaoru. I'm just a little frustrated from this homework, that's all."

Hikaru and Kaoru's amber eyes widened slightly from surprise. It was impossible. She knew who they were, even after they had switched their hairlines – the thing that others always depended on to tell them apart. They quickly composed themselves for the sake of their trick and faked a scornful pout.

"Well, that's rude," Kaoru said, crossing his arms across his chest almost as if it created an unbreakable barrier between himself and Sam. "I'm Hikaru. He's Kaoru!" He pointed a long finger at his brother.

Sam sighed. "Right, sure," she said dismissively, not allowing them any entrance for a prank on her. After enduring their pranks for the last two weeks, she discovered that it was best to brush it off as quickly as possible and change the subject to distract them and make them forget what they were doing. "So, what are you two doing here?" she brought up again. "I assume that you aren't here to study."

"We're coming over to your place tomorrow!" they announced together cheerfully.

Sam heard a pattern of knocks on her front door the next morning. She answered the door and saw Hikaru and Kaoru together, each carrying a bag on their shoulder. They let themselves in and looked around the apartment with a critical eye.

Hikaru observed from the living room. "This place is pretty small."

Kaoru walked back from the short hallway to join his brother. "Are there really only three bedrooms?"

"Sorry I don't live in gigantic mansions like you two," Sam said sarcastically, narrowing her dark, blue eyes.

"Hey, you don't mind if we hook this up to your TV, right?" Hikaru asking, already plugging in a game system that he pulled out from his bag with the help of Kaoru, who handed him the necessary cords from his bag.

"It's fine with me," Sam said, sitting on the couch, watching them hook up the game as they whispered to each other confidentially about how small her TV was.

After they were finished, they joined Sam on the couch and began playing their loud video game. The game had a very simple objective: you are to gather weapons you find in whatever scenario you are in and kill the other player.

"Sam! Why are you just sitting there? Play with us!" Kaoru said, offering her a third controller.

Sam waved her hands. "Oh, no, thanks. I'm not much of a gamer, so I don't know how to play…"

"I'm getting hungry," Hikaru said. "Did you make any snacks for us?"

Sam shook her head. "I don't know what you like. You can look in the kitchen for something, though."

Hikaru grumbled and got up. "Kaoru, teach her how to play while I find something."

Hikaru left for the next room and left Kaoru to give Sam a brief explanation of the controls, first showing her what buttons do what.

"…And you shoot with the A button." Kaoru finished explaining and then handed her the controller.

Sam nodded slowly, going over in her head what each button did. _That one reloads… I walk with this one…_ "Okay. I think I'm ready to play now."

"Just so you know, I'm not going to go easy on you just because it's your first time or because you're a girl," he warned with a smirk

She returned the smirk. "I'd be offended if you did."

They started the game. Sam's eyes were glued to the screen as she concentrated on what she made her character do. She would make a "Hmph" sound each time Kaoru's sneaked up on her's and took the kill. Sam had yet to get one kill while Kaoru had so many that they didn't bother to keep count at that point. Finally, Sam found the perfect opportunity and pressed the A button. Kaoru's character collapsed.

"Hey, you killed me," Kaoru said, stunned that she would actually catch on to how to play, let alone beat him.

"Yes! I got you!" Sam cheered excitedly.

He laughed.

"Hey, Kaoru! She's got INSTANT COFFEE!" Hikaru shouted from the kitchen. Kaoru's ears perked up and went to the kitchen to see for himself with Sam lagging behind. He saw Hikaru holding up a jar of already grounded coffee mix with a grin. "Sam, you've gotta make this for us!" Hikaru said.

Sam's eyebrows furrowed as she took the jar from him and began preparing it. "I don't get it. It's just coffee…"

"But it's commoner's coffee!" Hikaru explained. "Haruhi showed us the first day she joined the Host Club."

"You commoners are pretty clever for thinking of this stuff," Kaoru said.

"Thanks?" Sam said, not sure if she should consider it a compliment or very strong sarcasm. She still didn't see what made them so interested in such poor quality coffee when they must have access to the best cup of coffee money could buy.

"Hikaru, did you find anything to eat?" Kaoru asked.

"No. She has a lot of food, but we wouldn't eat anything she has, especially that spinach dip in the fridge," Hikaru said with a shudder. Kaoru shuddered along with him at the mention of spinach dip.

"You don't like spinach dip? I love it! I eat it everyday," Sam said.

Hikaru sighed. "You bought so much food and didn't get anything good."

Sam smiled. "Technically, you guys bought it since I used the money you gave me."

"That's even worse!" they said in their usual unison.

She giggled. "It's funny how you two are always in sync with each other, almost as if you're both one being." They flinched and Sam continued. "But I know that's not possible. Everyone is different, even you two." Kaoru gawked at her with a mixture of awe and shock while Hikaru looked at her with a look of surprise and skepticism.

The brothers eventually began to depart from Sam's apartment later that day.

"Wait, aren't you going to take your game with you?" Sam asked, noticing that the bags they brought with them were empty.

"You can keep it for next time we come over," Kaoru said.

"We have another one, anyways," Hikaru added, shrugging one of his shoulders.

The limo they called to be picked up in arrived soon. They climbed in and drove off back towards their mansion. The ride was quiet between the brothers, whom were looking the windows the entire time, thinking to themselves. Kaoru's mouth formed a firm straight line as he thought to himself and broke the silence to ask his brother about what was on his mind.

"Hikaru? Sam… Do you think…she knows?" he asked softly, almost a whisper.

Hikaru didn't look away from the window and his solemn expression didn't change. He was wondering the same thing. "No, I doubt it," he answered.

"But yesterday in the library…she called me by my name…not yours…"

Hikaru paused. He didn't have an explanation, but he didn't want to believe that Sam could tell them apart. It was too unreal to be true. "That was probably a coincidence. It's impossible that she can tell us apart. The only ones who can are Haruhi and the boss…"

Kaoru's face fell to a sorrow frown. Disappointment now flowed through his body from the spoken truth. "Yeah, you're probably right…"

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><p><strong>** It's short, but I still hope you liked it. **<strong>


	6. Worries

**** It's been a while since I have updated this story. I'm sorry, guys! Lost some motivation to write this story****. I'm starting to lose touch with it, but I'll keep working at it! Don't think I've given up on this story! :) ****

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><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

It was a rainy week at Ouran. It rained all day, and even when it wasn't, the sky still held dark gray clouds that threatened to sprinkle raindrops.

Kaoru sat in his limo as he looked out at the threatening clouds. He and Hikaru hated this rain. It ruined everything fun they could think of to do during that week, and they were sick and tired of staying indoors.

The limo stopped and the driver alerted him that they were at his destination. Kaoru got out and gazed at the large apartment building.

Sam wasn't at school that day or the one before. Normally, he would brush something like that off, but he couldn't help but become somewhat worried. She didn't tell anyone she would be absent from school, so nobody knew where she was, not even Akari, whom she was beginning to grow very close to as the school year went on. Kaoru knew better than to think that she would play hooky; Sam was much too dedicated to her schoolwork to allow herself to pile up on makeup work.

_What if that creep got out and kidnapped her? _Kaoru hated to think that, but he did anyways. He couldn't shake the thought of somebody planning to get rid of Sam for being responsible of the mugger's conviction. He felt that he would somehow be responsible if something bad were to happen to her.

"Okay," Kaoru said quietly to himself as he went up the concrete stairs towards door twenty-three. "If she's home, then that means she wasn't kidnapped, and I can leave…"

He knocked on door twenty-three and waited anxiously for her to answer. The blue door opened and revealed Sam, who had her hair in a messy ponytail with, of course, a white ribbon, and she was still in her seafoam green pajamas. Her nose was red and she looked exhausted. Kaoru exhaled a deep breath he didn't remember taking in relief.

"Kaoru? What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice sounding rather raspy and cracked.

_She called me Kaoru… _He rubbed the back of his neck. "I was just, uhh, checking to see why you haven't been at school lately, and I wondering if you were okay…"

Sam looked out the door at the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain any second. Do you want to come in?"

Kaoru accepted, and Sam lead him into the living room where there was still cleaning supplies on the coffee table and two giant baskets full of laundry – one dirty and one clean – one the floor beside it from when she was doing her house chores. He could still smell the leftover fumes from her cleaning sprays.

Sam sat on one end of her navy blue sofa. "I've been sick for the last few days now," Sam explained. "I didn't want to worry anyone, so I didn't tell anybody."

Kaoru frowned as he continued to look at the laundry and cleaning products in disapproval. "Have you been cleaning?"

She nodded. "This place has to stay clean somehow."

"How are you supposed to get any better if you're inhaling these obnoxious fumes?"

She shrugged. "Well, I just finished using that stuff. All I have to do now is my laundry."

His eyebrows furrowed, as he grew irritated. "You do realize normal people rest when they are sick, right?"

"Sure, I do, but I have to get this stuff done."

Kaoru sighed exasperatedly. He then grabbed the dirty clothes basket and began walking for the hallway. "Then, I'll do it while you sleep."

Sam darted from her place and quickly grabbed the other end of the basket, making Kaoru stop in his place. "No, no, no. I cannot let you do my laundry. I doubt you even know how to use a washer!" She tugged on the basket.

"I'm only trying to help," he said, dancing around the comment about him not being able to use a washer. It didn't matter to him. How hard could it possibly be? "Just let me do it!" he insisted, tugging back on the basket.

Sam looked at him sternly, but then smirked evilly when she a way to win. "My underwear is in there, you know."

Kaoru blushed a scarlet red and let go of the basket so that only Sam was holding it now. "N-Never mind…"

She smiled triumphantly and carried the basket down the hall to the closet sized laundry room. "Thank you!"

Kaoru followed her and leaned against the wall outside of the room. "What am I supposed to do, then? It'll be boring if I just sit here."

"You still have that game you left here," she reminded him.

_Ring!_

Kaoru turned his head in every direction, looking for the source of the high-pitched ringing. "You don't have a phone."

"I just got one to put in the kitchen so that I can talk to my family and friends in America while I cook. It's probably my mom again."

_Ring!_

He grinned and ran to the kitchen excitedly now that he found something to entertain himself. "Oh, I'll get it! I want to talk to your mom!"

"No!" Sam shouted. "You can answer it, but don't say a word to my mother! Just put it on speaker phone!"

_Ring!_

"Aww. Why can't I talk to your mom?" he complained.

"Just don't," she firmly said, walking into the kitchen area where Kaoru was in front of the wall phone, pressing a button.

"Hello? Sam?" a woman on the other line said in English.

"Hey, Mom," Sam answered.

"Oh, sweetie! You still sound terrible! Are you sure you're taking good care of yourself over there?"

"No," Kaoru answered for her. Sam gasped, surprised that her was even taking the time to translate what they were saying. She punched him hard in the arm as a way to scold him for speaking. "Ow… That actually hurt, you know," he whispered.

"Samantha Aspen Matthews!" her mother shrieked. "Was that a boy I heard? It was a boy! What have I told you?"

Sam rubbed her temples while Kaoru tried his best not to burst into laughter. "Mom, he's just a friend in my class. Calm down," Sam said, annoyed by her mother's usual assumptions.

"Friend? FRIEND! Of course, he's your friend! Then what will he be next? The father of your child? I'm not ready to be a grandmother, Sam!" she responded in panic.

"Mother! I'm not pregnant, and I won't be any time soon, I assure you!"

"What is this boy's name? I want to talk to him!"

Kaoru hesitated. After hearing her mother's carping, he was sure that if he let her talk to him, she would somehow find a way to crawl out from the phone's speaker to wring his neck.

Sam groaned and buried her face in her palms. "Oh, my God…"

"Should I…talk to her?" Kaoru whispered quiet enough for the mother to not hear.

Sam shook her head, knowing that if he did, it would only make it harder for her mother to forget about the whole thing. She took rather loud steps to the kitchen pantry, opened the door, and shut it immediately so that it was loud enough for her mother to be able to hear. "Sorry, Mom. You just missed him," she lied, hoping it was enough.

"Ha! I betcha I sent him running!" her mother said, pleased with herself. "Oh, sweetie! I found a flight in the summer for you! Everybody is excited to see you again, especially Paige. She's always telling her mother about how she misses doing your hair every day for school."

Sam smiled fondly, recalling Paige doing her hair as if she were a professional hairstylist. "I miss you guys too. Count on me being there."

The mother giggled in delight and soon after said her goodbyes after reminding her daughter to be safe.

Sam exhaled in relief as soon as she hung up. _She worries too much…_

Kaoru sweatdropped. "Is your mom always like that?"

Sam sighed once again and nodded. "She worries about me a lot, but I've learned to deal with it. She only does it because she's afraid of something bad happening to me."

"I can relate," Kaoru said quietly, remembering the whole reason why he came by Sam's home in the first place. Sam threw him a questioning look regarding what he meant by his statement. "Oh, nevermind that," he quickly dismissed, not wanting Sam to find why he was really there. It would be much too embarrassing for her to know. Then, he felt his cellphone vibrate in his pocket. He checked it and found a text message from Hikaru and read it. Kaoru then closed it and said, "Sorry, Sam, but I've gotta go."

"Huh, why? Did something happen?" she asked.

He shook his face with a reassuring grin. "No, it's just that I told Hikaru that I was only checking up on you, but I guess I lost track of time here, and he got a little worried."

Sam smiled at how evident it was that the brothers cared about each other. "Then, I guess I won't keep you captive here any longer," she said, leading him to the front door.

He chuckled. "See you later. Hope you get better!" he said as he made his way out the door.

When he was completely gone, Sam walked back into the living room and sat on the couch. It was so quiet in apartment now that he was gone. _Was it this quiet before he came?_ She frowned. She didn't realize how she enjoyed Kaoru's visit until he left. Now that she thought about it, she didn't thank him. He didn't have to check up on her to make sure she was all right. He didn't have to worry in the slightest bit for her.

Then, her lips parted and she inhaled deeply from stunned revelation. _Kaoru was worried about me…_

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><p><strong>** Not exactly a plot interacting chapter, but it shows Kaoru and Sam growing closer without Hikaru being around. Can't help but feel that the ending of this chapter was very rushed and sudden. But, I still hope you enjoyed reading. :) **<em><br>_**


	7. To Cheer a Friend Up

Chapter 7

Sam sat with Chiemi and Akari at Honey and Mori's spot in the room. But it wasn't one of the very cheerful and giggly visits, which were the norm when visiting the two at the Host Club; Chiemi had announced just one week earlier that her parents had decided that Chiemi would continue her studies abroad in England, where her father's companies gain the most profit from, so it was expected of her to be knowledgeable of the area if she were to one day take over the business. This was to be her last visit to Ouran and the Host Club. The news was sudden to hear from her. Since Sam had met Chiemi and Akari, she had come to grow close to the opposites.

Chiemi's quiet and rational attitude towards everything – life, arguments, people – carefully balanced out Akari's bubbly and childish personality. It made people of Ouran wonder how the two ever got along so well.

It was getting close to the time when Chiemi would have to leave. While Honey tearfully told Chiemi how terrible it was that she had to leave, Chiemi and Sam glanced over at Akari. Akari was watching the scene with a sad smile. She didn't say anything, just watched. Sam didn't have to say anything to Chiemi to know that they were thinking the same thing.

The time came when Chiemi stood from her seat and declared that it was time to go. Sam stood up too, and the girls hugged each other in farewell, during which, Chiemi whispered softly to Sam, "Watch over her." Sam knew whom she meant, so she only nodded in reply when they released each other.

"I-I'll walk you to the car!" Akari stuttered.

They walked out together, and Chiemi stopped to give everyone one last wave goodbye.

Honey was waving frantically and jumping up and down to make sure Chiemi saw him. "Goodbye, Chi-chan!" he cried.

When Chiemi and Akari were gone, Sam sat back down with Honey and Mori, whom wore solemn faces.

"Poor Kari-chan… She doesn't have a lot of friends besides Chi-chan and you," Honey said to Sam.

"Yes," Kyoya agreed from his spot in front of his laptop. "Before you arrived, the only other student – excluding Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai – that she cared to converse with in school regularly was Ms. Momotani."

Sam looked at the door Akari exited from and then hung her head, ashamed that she didn't realize this before, especially after how close the two were starting to become. _How could I have missed that?_

"It's so gloomy over here," Hikaru said as he and Kaoru over. All of their customers were just leaving, seeing as it was starting to get late, and they decided to join in on the conversation after over-hearing.

"Why don't you just do something to cheer Ms. Kanagawa up once she gets back here?" Kaoru suggested.

"Like what?" Sam asked.

The twins shrugged. "How should we know?" they said.

Sam sighed. _Some help they are…_ She scanned the room for anything that could possibly take Akari's mind off of Chiemi. She looked and looked until she noticed Tamaki's piano in the far corner of the room. She quickly recalled a time when Akari once mentioned that she loved the sound of a piano. "Where is Tamaki-sempai?"

"Tamaki is seeing the last of his customers," Kyoya said, pointing his finger towards the door, where a few blushing girls were getting the back of their hands kissed by the princely second-year. "I take it that you want him to play the piano for Ms. Kanagawa," Kyoya said as he followed Sam's gaze.

"Unless anyone else knows how to play it," Sam answered.

Once Tamaki finished saying goodbye to the blushing girl, he made his way to everyone. He was curious as to what they were talking about, and after he caught them staring straight at him, he became even more interested.

Abruptly, the twins each grabbed one of Tamaki's arms and dragged him toward the corner of the room. "Boss, come play piano!" they said as they dragged him against his will.

Tamaki at first refused them, kicking and screaming to get out of their hold, but after Sam explained the situation, he completely turned his character around. He was more than happy to be of assistance to one of the Host Club's "princesses".

Tamaki played intros to a few melodies to get Sam's opinion on which Akari would like the best. Sam wasn't sure which would be best, so she simply chose the most playful sounding one in hopes that it would cheer her up. Sam smiled, listening to the piece she chose for Tamaki to play. "You're really good, Tamaki-sempai. I wish I was at least half as good as you," Sam complimented.

Tamaki raised his brows and smiled as he continued to play. "Oh, so you play piano too?" he inquired.

"Well, no. I play guitar, not that learning how to play piano wouldn't be fun too."

"We didn't know you play guitar," Hikaru said, he and Kaoru both suddenly appearing behind where she sat in front of the piano.

"My dad taught me a few years back. I thought you two would've assumed it since there _is_ an acoustic guitar sitting plain as day in my living room," Sam said.

The twins both looked at each other and shrugged. "Guess we missed it," Kaoru said.

Tamaki had gasped and was smiling brightly. He looked as if he wanted to hug Sam, but that would have stopped the music she requested him to play. "Samantha, you must play something here next time and show us your talent!"

"Yeah, we wanna hear you play!" Honey said excitedly. Mori simply nodded.

Sam was reluctant to accept. She had never been asked to play with an audience. The only other audience she ever had was her father and occasionally her mother when she was feeling down. Any other time she played was for herself. She liked to play for herself; it relaxed her and distracted her from any problems she might have at the time. "I don't know, guys," she said. "Besides, I'm not that great at it. I've never even played in front of other people…"

"You know," Kyoya started with a sly smirk, "our customers would love to see a live performance of a guitarist. This could maybe get you some cash on the side as well, like a part-time job."

"The girls would love it," Hikaru agreed.

"And even if you did bad, they would still like it because it's something new to them," Kaoru added.

Sam bit her lip in consideration. _I guess I don't have much to lose…_ "Well, I guess I could next time."

Then, everyone heard the doors close. It was Akari, who was wiping her cheek. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and when she saw everyone's eyes now on her, she began to feel a little self-conscious. She nervously chuckled. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

This was when the twins sprang up from where they were, and each on looped an arm in hers and escorted her to the piano. "No way!" they said together.

"In fact, we've been waiting for you," Hikaru said with a cheeky grin.

Akari flushed, making her cheeks redder than they already were. "Y-You have?"

"Yeah, we want you to listen to the piano with us," Kaoru said.

Akari looked ahead and burst into a bright smile when she stopped to listen to the music. "It's so beautiful, Tamaki-sempai!"

Tamaki gave a warm smile to her as he continued to play. "Thank you, princess. Samantha picked out the tune."

Akari smiled at Sam but then suddenly gasped when she remembered something. "Oh, Samantha, I almost forgot to tell you! My parents and I would like to know if you'd like to have dinner at our place tomorrow night," she said excitedly.

"Your parents? But I've never met them before," Sam said, puzzled as to why her parents would be interested in her. "Why would they want to invite _me_ over?"

"Well, I told them a little about you the other day, and when I mentioned that you're from America, they said they wanted to meet you!" Akari explained. "So, would you like to come?"

Despite her doubts about the parents' interest in her, she accepted the invitation anyways since it was obvious that Akari was genuinely excited about it. And after Tamaki's playing was finished, along with Akari, Sam gathered her stuff to prepare for going home. She glanced back at the exit and saw the twins in front of it, along with Haruhi. She couldn't tell what they were talking about, but she could see that Kaoru was saying something, occasionally looking in her direction, to which Hikaru and Haruhi shrugged their shoulders.

"What are you looking at?" Akari asked Sam curiously.

Sam hadn't realized that her entire head was turned until she snapped her head back to look down at her bag. "Nothing," she said, suddenly too embarrassed to look at anything but her school bag, though she didn't know why she should feel embarrassed in the first place.

Akari blinked at her. She then looked to find what Sam was looking at to make her so uncharacteristically timid. She saw the twins and Haruhi, and when she saw one of the twins make their way to them, she turned back around quickly and giggled.

"Hey, Sam!"

Sam shook her embarrassment away and looked to see Kaoru coming to her. "Hey, Kaoru. What's up?"

Kaoru and Akari raised their eyebrows, slightly stunned. _She said Kaoru…_ _How could she possibly know?_

Kaoru, being momentarily thrown off his course, spoke somewhat shakily. "Do you want a ride home?" he asked. "We were gonna give Haruhi a ride home, and your place is on the way anyways, so you want to come?"

Akari jumped in. "How nice of you, Kaoru! Samantha was just talking about how she wished someone would offer her a ride!"

Sam narrowed her eyes at Akari, who grinned back at her. "Thank you, Kaoru. I'd love a ride. Just let me get my stuff," she said.

When Kaoru left to return to Hikaru and Haruhi, Sam gave Akari a death glare. "What the heck was that?"

Akari giggled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sam groaned and really wanted to know what she was thinking, but she didn't want to keep her ride waiting. So, she went on and joined the twins and Haruhi and followed them into the Hitachiin's limo.

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><p><strong>** Sorry for the shortness, especially after the long absence! I'll try updat<strong>**e soon. :) ****


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